Versatile defender Juan Sanchez is the latest 2019 Chattanooga Football Club player to be announced as a returner for the team's first professional season. Sanchez, 24, who is from Madrid, Spain, and played collegiately at Pfeiffer and Palm Beach Atlantic, has signed for his third Chattanooga FC season, having played all four backfield positions and defensive midfielder. "We are so pleased to have Juan returning for his third year," CFC coach Peter Fuller said in a release Wednesday. "He has been a great foot soldier for the club, playing multiple positions and all of them very, very well. He will be a great asset to the club as we begin our first pro season." For his part, Sanchez said, "I'm beyond excited and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this great organization and city for one more season."
Basketball
* Dalton State's 21-1 Roadrunners rose three spots to No. 3 in the NAIA Division I men's basketball poll Wednesday, and with 14 wins in a row they can tie the program record of 15 on Thursday at Blue Mountain in Mississippi. They play Saturday at Bethel in McKenzie, Tennessee.
* The Bryan women celebrated their two-place climb to No. 16 in the NAIA Division II rankings Wednesday with a 112-71 Appalachian Athletic Conference home win over Kentucky Christian. The Lions built a 21-point lead in the first quarter of their 51st consecutive victory against an AAC opponent. Then the KCU men won 87-78. Kaitlynn Hennessee scored 26 points on 7-of-9 field-goal shooting and 10-of-10 free-throw success and added seven rebounds for the Bryan women (23-1, 19-0), while Karli Combs hit five 3-point baskets and totaled 20 points and Destiny Kassner scored 18 on 9-of-11 shooting. Tristan McClellan had 14 points, Deandra Luna 13 assists and Amadea Pankey 10 rebounds. Brandon Thomas and Noah Mulaski each scored 17 points and Keaton Dotson added 16 for the Bryan men, Mulaski and Dotson with four 3s apiece.
* In a battle of USA South Scots, the host Covenant men erased a 14-point second-half deficit and edged Maryville 72-70 in overtime. Zack Allen and Will Crumly scored 17 and 15 points for Covenant (13-7, 10-3), and Chris Barnette had 10 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. JR Sanders had 27 points and five assists for Maryville. The Covenant women (8-13, 5-7) lost 81-49 at Berea (21-2, 14-0) but got 17 points and nine rebounds from Hannah Monday. Riley Wagaman added 11 points.
* Cleveland State's Lady Cougars lost 78-70 at home to perennial power Walters State, but the Cougars salvaged a split of the TCCAA doubleheader with an 81-78 defeat of the Senators. The Cougars (9-13, 6-7) led by 14 early in the second half and held on, as Jakobey Hitchens scored 24 points and Demonte Person 19, supported by 12 and 11 from Jaquez Hicks and Jon Morgan and eight rebounds from Jager Dickson. In the women's game, the second-place hosts turned a 12-point deficit midway through the second quarter into a one-point lead late in the third but couldn't maintain the momentum. Charisma Barner had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Lady Cougars (14-7, 10-3), while Asjah Harrell and Kyeshia Dalton had 18 and 14 points and three steals each.
Baseball
* Chattanooga State's baseball team beat the visiting Union College junior varsity 11-1 and 13-3 on Monday and takes a 2-3 record into a scheduled home series this weekend against Lincoln Trail. Austin Lockridge allowed four hits and an unearned run with six strikeouts in five innings pitched in Monday's first game, when Eddie Satisky homered and singled and matched Nick Blubaugh with three RBIs. Blubaugh tripled along with James Basham and Allen Grier, who were a combined 5-for-8 with four runs scored and two batted in. In game two Satisky was 2-for-2 and Grier 2-for-4 with three RBIs apiece, Branson Bowling went 3-for-3 and Basham and Blubaugh each was 2-for-3. All of those except Grier scored two runs, and he scored one.
Compiled by Ron Bush. Contact him at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.